Bio
Hailed by the Washington Post as a musician with “…a clean, full-bodied tone and fleet fingers,” Krisztina Dér Noble is a member of Winds Upon a String flute and harp duo and Winterbirds progressive folk band. First-prize winner of the 2017 RAFA Artist and the 2009 FSW Collegiate Competitions, she has performed internationally at the 2011 Jeunesses, 2014 Rosen-Schaffel, 2015 RAFA, and 2017 Myrna Brown Artist Competitions. She believes strongly in nurturing curiosity to excite others about learning, both as a pedagogue (Neighborhood Creative Arts Center, A Part 2 Play Music School, Anne Arundel County Public Schools) and an ensemble director (Charles County Youth Orchestra).
A champion of intermedia, her growing flute/light project explores the integration of music and lighting design through concerts and commissions. It has been funded in part by grants from the Friends of Flutes Foundation and University of North Carolina Greensboro. Some recent flute/light performance invitations include: the National Flute Association Convention, Light City Baltimore, the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention, NSEME, Liberty University, Methodist University, the University of North Carolina Pembroke, and the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
Krisztina received her Doctorate of Musical Arts from UNC Greensboro as an Adeliade Fortune Holderness Fellow, her Master of Music from UNC School of the Arts as a Nutcracker Scholar, and her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland Baltimore County as a Linehan Artist Scholar. Before moving to Maryland from North Carolina, she was a member of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and Lecturer of Music at Guilford College. In 2012 and 2013, she served as the Assistant Program Chair for the 2013 National Flute Association Convention in New Orleans. Some of her teachers include János Bálint, Erika Boysen, Tadeu Coelho, Lisa Cella, Gergely Ittzés, and Alice Kogan Weinreb; and she has performed in masterclasses with flutists Robert Dick, Bradley Garner, Sir James Galway, Zoltán Gyöngyössy, Susan Hoeppner, Marina Piccinini, Amy Porter, and Gary Schocker. Her adventures as a flutist began at the age of three, after she first heard a performance of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. She speaks fluent Hungarian, collects Knorr® products from around the world, and enjoys the whimsy of well-crafted children’s literature.
Mission
What is beautiful–infinitely beautiful? The grotesque discords of Béla Bartók and the angelic cadences of William Byrd both raise that question. What’s more, they each communicate a simple but profound truth: you exist. Forget René Descartes’ “Cogito ergo sum.” You hear–therefore you are. Take another step: if you exist, how does your life relate to the infinitely beautiful?
As a performer, I think of my music-making as an offering to those immersed in the music with me. It is an invitation to step into an awareness of the metaphysical. Thus, I desire to be vulnerable in my performances, striving to move, edify, and provoke thought as I pursue excellent performance.
Reviews
“Krisztina, your recital at the RAFA Flute Fair… was an inspiration. Those who were fortunate to hear it were raving about it throughout the day! Thank you for sharing such beautiful music—so needed in these times!” Rosene Rohrer, President, Raleigh Area Flute Association
“[Dr. Dér is] an innovative player… She’s really doing a great job melding the [classical and commercial] and… taking artistry to the next step.” Dr. Samantha Mowrey Miller
“Krisztina Dér is a young but accomplished flute phenom…” (Lynchburg Does)
“Krisztina Dér’s [Flute/light] performance… shifted the way audiences receive music… [creating] a dramatic [show]… The performance effectively married sight and sound.” “Lighten up the music” (The Retriever)
“Krisztina Dér Wins 1st Prize in RAFA Artist Competition!” (myUMBC)
“And then there was light [by flutist Krisztina Dér and videographer Wayne Reich] is a bold and compelling project.” “Krisztina Dér and Wayne Reich: Flutist and Video Artist Meet at the Cutting Edge” (Classical Voice of North Carolina)
© 2021 Krisztina Dér Noble. All rights reserved.
Krisztina Dér Noble, Flutist 